Every time Phillies starter A.J. Burnett takes the hill this month Phillies fans know it could be his last with the club. Burnett has been centered around trade talks since mid June, and we are two and a half weeks away from the waiver trade deadline. Burnett has just six wins this season, and win number seven is going to be tough. The Angels enter tonight’s game 20 games over .500 and they are sending their ace pitcher (Jered Weaver) to the bump tonight.

Marlon Byrd is another trade piece the Phillies have, and he has some success against Weaver in his career. In 25 career at-bats against Weaver Byrd is hitting .320. Marlon Byrd is third among Major League right fielders in home runs & runs batted in. Byrd is also ranked fifth in slugging, and is ranked 6th in WAR. Byrd would have already been dealt if it was not for a ridiculous vesting option. He was claimed on waivers last week and was not traded, meaning any trade for Byrd would likely happen in the offseason.

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17 Comments

If Marlon Byrd’s contract makes him so undesireable making him virtually untradeable, then why was he claimed, and then not just given away. The team that claimed him had to know how horrrrrrible his vesting deal was right? So why take the chance that they would be stuck with him if the Phils just happened to say, ok you can have him?

My opinion is that it’s not such a horrrrrible deal (you see it wasn’t a spelling error) after all. At least one team was willing to chance it and he couldn’t be that hard to trade or the Phils would have given him away, no?

It’s possible he was claimed and the two teams couldn’t agree on a trade, and the phillies of course value him so they wouldn’t just dump him if they feel they could get some type of prospect for him at some point…. I don’t think they would just let him go in my opinion

Hogey, of course not. I was sarcastically responding to the second to last line

“Byrd would have already been dealt if it was not for a ridiculous vesting option”

And I’m saying that is not the only reason, which is also what you just said. It’s as much about what the Phils feel his value is in return than his “ridiculous” vesting option.

Not that I think they needed to include that to get him, but it’s not that bad considering what the other RF’s like Pence, Bautista, or Werth make. And wait until Stanton and Puig get to FA – Then Byrd’s deal for his production is a joke, a blip on the screen.

As deadly as the vesting options typically are, I don’t see Byrd as being a super high risk despite his age. I mean, here’s a player who’s been playing his best ball since around age 34.

Just compare him to Jason Werth –

Werth currently ranks at #5 in the NL but Byrd is right behind him at #6. While Byrd’s OBP is low, he has has 22 HRs compared Werth’s 12. Additionally, Byrd has more RBIs and a higher WAR. Byrd is also ranked at #9 in fielding while Werth currently sits at #16.

Byrd been relatively free of injuries, For a team in the hunt, especially one racked with injuries (and there are many this year), I believe Byrd has plenty of value. If he only helps win one World Series for a contender and stays healthy for the duration of the contract, then he’s easily worth the vesting year.

I think he’s worth a couple of raw but promising young players – or at a minimum a first round draft choice – and with the other team picking up most or all of Byrd’s salary,

If the National League ever goes with the DH, I’ll stop following baseball. I also think that the replay system is a crock and a game delay. It was argued that it wopuld end disputes and speed up the games, but at least in the past you got some entertainment value when managers and umpires went at it. Now you just get four fat guys farting around with headphones and watching a video screen, and I’ve seen footage that was so inconclusive that it didn’t help, anyway. If umps are that stupid/blind, they should train them better or not hire people out of the Braille Institute.

And whoever figured out that “no plate blocking” rule should be repeatedly run down by the largest ballplayers on every team, and once he’s down and can’t seem to get up, he should then be run over with the bullpen cart.